This invention relates to improvements to rotary pumps and more specifically to pumps that incorporate rotating flexible impellers for their pumping action.
Most rotary pumps have a housing that allows access to an impeller via an end cover. The impeller is driven by a drive shaft that causes water to be drawn through an inlet at low pressure and expelled through an outlet at higher pressure.
There are a number of refinements that can be added to this basic design that will assist monitoring of pump performance and condition whilst increasing pump reliability and simplifying the servicing or repair of the pump when required.
In certain applications, such as marine engine cooling pumps, it is difficult to identify if the pump is the cause of engine overheating without partial dismantling of the pump to visually inspect the flexible impeller for damage.
In numerous marine engine installations access to the pump is extremely difficult because of restricted access in the engine compartment and the physical location of the cooling pump on the engine.
In some cases it becomes necessary to remove adjacent parts of the engine such as alternators and drive belts, heat exchangers etc, to gain access to the cooling pump which can be quite hazardous in rough seas with an overheated engine.
It is an object of this invention to overcome at least some of the above disadvantages or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice.